Bay City slugger too much for Roosevelt Park in Little League state tourney

ROOSEVELT PARK, MI – Southwest Bay City slugger Hayden Jatczak got his batting swing dialed in Saturday, July 19 in the Little League state tournament.

The unlucky recipient was Roosevelt Park.

Hayden Jatczak

Jatczak belted a pair of three-run homers, added an RBI single and got the pitching win as Southwest Bay City defeated host team Roosevelt Park 15-5 in five innings in the second day of tournament play for 11- and 12-year-olds at Delmar Playfield.

The loss drops Roosevelt Park to 0-2 heading into the final day of pool play. Roosevelt Park plays Melvindale at 5 p.m. Sunday. Games resume for the 16-team tournament at 8 a.m. Sunday.

“We got outhit and then we got outhit and then we got outhit,” Roosevelt Park coach Ken Rose said. “They had a stud on mound (Jatczak) that we couldn’t get to at first and he had three solid innings and only burned up 35 pitches. He’s a beast and they’re going to compete on Monday for sure.”

Jatczak retired eight of Roosevelt Park’s first nine hitters and was charged with one run in three innings of work.

But he made the biggest noise at the plate with a three-run shot in a six-run second inning and another blast to straightaway center in a six-run fifth.

“I made an adjustment in my swing and it helped me a lot,” said Jatczak, a stocky, 5-foot-7, 140-pound 12-year-old. “I just got my back elbow up a little bit and it helped a lot.”

Jatczak was a power hitter in the regular season with eight homers and added four more in tournament play, but didn't hit one in Bay City's 4-2 win against Melvindale in Friday's opener, so he tweaked things a little bit.

“I was popping everything up and beating it into the ground. But (Saturday), I was leveling up and hitting more line drives.”

Jatczak and his teammates pounded out 15 hits against a trio of Roosevelt Park pitchers, starter Ryan Gillings, Heath Cory and Jackson Neely. Anthony Bernard, Dakota Wall, Blake Mireyk and Mason Kolak also had two hits for Southwest Bay City.

Gillings and Neely had a pair of hits and Carson St. Amour added a two-run single for Roosevelt Park.

St. Amour’s single made it 7-3 in the top of the fourth and Roosevelt Park could have threatened for more, but a runner was caught off third base for a double play to end the inning.

Bay City improves to 2-0 with the win and plays Tecumseh at 5:30 p.m. Sunday looking to win its pool and advance to the single-elimination round that starts Monday. Tecumseh defeated Melvindale, 13-12, to also improve to 2-0.

“Our coaches want to get into the top eight and our goal is to get the one or two seed. I think we’re tied for one. We have to play good defense (Sunday),” Jatczak said.

Roosevelt Park is hoping to break into the win column Sunday.

“Any time you have a chance to play a game in the state tournament, you want to play your best. We have one more chance. The coaching staff reminded the players we have eight 12-year-olds that won’t be returning to this league next year and if we can get those kids to start and get some playing time and play tough for them, we can send them off to their future baseball with a win,” Rose said. “Roosevelt Park didn’t win last year in the state tournament, they were 0-3, so it’s been a while since we’ve had a victory in the state tournament and we’d like to be the first in a while.”

Mark Opfermann covers sports for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at mopferma@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.